Kalinga Lancers will hosts Dabang Mumbai tomorrow, when the two sides met in Mumbai, both Kalinga Lancers and Dabang Mumbai gave a tough fight to each other but Dabang Mumbai managed to edge past Kalinga Lancers by a margin of just one goal. Currently, both the teams are sitting at the bottom of the Pool Table and will be striving to conquer the match in order to avoid finishing at the last position in the league.

Vikas Sharma Kalinga Lancers celebrates Hero Hockey India League 2015

An energetic first quarter of the match saw both Kalinga Lancers and Delhi Waveriders in an attacking mode as both the sides were trying to score the first goal in the match. Where Yuvraj Walmiki of Delhi Waveriders made a good run into the opponent’s D and failed to score the goal, Lucas Vila of Kalinga Lancers on the other hand, made a similar run but did not make any mistakes while firing in a field goal in the third minute of the game itself, helping Kalinga Lancers to take the lead by 1-0. Kalinga Lancers were dominating the first quarter as they were now penetrating Delhi Waveriders’ D more frequently, but goalkeeper Nicolas Jacobi with his perfect saves and atheletic skills, did not allow Kalinga Lancers to add any further goals to their lead.

In the second quarter of the match, Delhi Waveriders continued to play a steady game while Kalinga Lancers’ squad was witnessed to be more attentive as they managed to slice in their second goal through the stick of Vikas Sharma in the 20th minute of the match and took the lead further ahead at 2-0. Delhi Waverider’s hard work towards getting back into the game helped them to earn a penalty corner in the 27th minute and drag-flicker Andrew Hayward’s perfect strike reduced the margin by 1 goal. Kalinga Lancers were still leading the match with 2-1 on the scoreboard by the end of the second quarter.

The third quarter of the game saw a much calculated game coming in from both the sides as both Kalinga Lancers and Delhi Waveriders did well with their respective attacks and defensive play. Kalinga Lancers did manage to secure a penalty corner with just six minutes remaining on the clock for the third quarter to end, but failed to convert it into a goal. Making every effort to score a goal, both the teams failed to convert any opportunity as the third quarter saw a dry run and no goals were scored by either of the two by the end of the quarter.

An action packed fourth quarter of the game saw attacks and counter-attacks coming in from both the ends as both the teams went all out with their full strength. Delhi Waveriders secured two penalty corner opportunities but failed to convert them into a goal to level the scores with Kalinga Lancers. It was Talwinder Singh of Delhi Waveriders in the dying minutes of the match who sneaked in a goal with a deflection and helped his team level the scores with the hosts Kalinga Lancers as the match ended with a 2-2 draw.

Speaking on the team’s performance, Head Coach Cedric D’souza of Delhi Waveriders said, “We are surprised to see Kalinga Lancers playing an aggressive game and the fact that they managed to keep the ball and rotate it among their players. But by the end of the match we managed to implement our strategies and got back into the game. We failed to materialize on the penalty corner opportunities and even Kalinga Lancers’ goalkeeper Andrew Charter did a commendable job today. We are satisfied with the results and we are looking forward to better our game in the upcoming matches.”

Speaking after the match, Head Coach Jude Felix of Kalinga Lancers said, “We played a better game today as we stuck to the plan of keeping the ball possession with us. We managed to dominate the match but we failed to score more goals. We could have won the match as we got an early lead in the game but in the fourth quarter the young players were seen playing with much anxiety which cost us the goal in the dying minutes. The team is improving with every match and today we showed a much better performance than our previous matches. We had to settle for an unfortunate result but the team is very much motivated for the matches ahead.”

Speaking on the match against Kalinga Lancers, Tom Boon of Dabang Mumbai said, “We have had a good match against Kalinga Lancers before and we aim to deliver similar results this time as well. We are trying to address all possible loop holes in the game played against Uttar Pradesh Wizards and will be aiming to convert as many penalty corners as possible.”

Adding further to Tom Boon’s comment, teammate and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh of Dabang Mumbai said,“We are able to create good penalty corner opportunities but converting them successfully is a problem. We are working on it and we will be in a better shape tomorrow to play against Kalinga Lancers. We won against Kalinga Lancers the last time and we will try to win it again tomorrow.”